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Abstract

The processes of urbanisation have left a fragmented mosaic of habitat patches of varying size, shape and character with the result that from location to location the number and quality of contacts between patches varies considerably. Traditional measurements of this habitat fragmentation, and its converse, connectivity, have rarely looked at the landscape as a whole but instead have simplified it to specific landscape subsets, or else have looked at area-to-area relationships through generalising the landscape into homogeneous pixels or grids. In this paper the character of the whole landscape is examined at scales appropriate to the spatial variability of the urban environment. Using a direct measurement of patch-to-patch contact all contacts between all patches are examined and the relationship between all contiguous and connecting habitats is quantified. This is further refined to look at connections between patches of different quality, a measure that highlights the adverse effects of urbanisation as a whole on landscape connections between quality habitats. (SpringerLink)

Land management in urban areas is characterized by the diversity of its goals and its physical expression in the landscape, as well as by the frequency and often rapidity of change. Deliberate or accidental landscape alterations lead to changes in habitat, some of which may be viewed as environmentally beneficial, others as detrimental. Evaluating what is there and how changes may fit into the landscape context is therefore essential if informed land-management decisions are to be made. The method presented here uses a simple ecological evaluation technique, employing a restricted number of evaluation criteria, to gather a spatially complete data set. A geographical information system (GIS) is then used to combine the resulting scores into a habitat value index (HVI). Using examples from Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, existing real-world data are then applied to land-management scenarios to predict probable landscape ecological consequences of habitat alteration. The method provides an ecologically relevant, spatially complete evaluation of a large, diverse area in a short period of time. This means that contextual effects of land-management decisions can be quickly visualized and remedial or mitigating measures incorporated at an early stage without the requirement for complex modeling and prior to the detailed ecological survey. The strengths of the method lie in providing a detailed information baseline that evaluates all habitats, not just the traditional “quality” habitats, in a manner that is accessible to all potential users—from interested individuals to professional planners. (Springer Verlag)

The increasing acknowledgement of the importance of urban habitats in the maintenance of biodiversity has brought with it a need to quantify this importance at a scale appropriate to the characteristic patch sizes encountered in urban areas. Taking a study area in the Black Country (UK) we used a spatially complete, rapid assessment method to evaluate habitat patches in terms of their internal structural heterogeneity. This method recognises the importance of both natural and anthropogenic processes in providing a diverse range of habitats and niches for both flora and fauna. It also recognises the key role of context in determining the ecological significance of each patch within the urban landscape. All habitats studied had a complex mix of both natural and artificial structural elements, where an element is a within-patch contributor to structural diversity, with each habitat type having a large range of element totals. Characteristic totals, reflecting the level of habitat structural diversity, were observed in some habitat types with residential areas having high values and industrial and commercial areas having low values. Certain structural elements were also associated with each habitat type allowing characteristic element assemblages to be derived. If structural diversity is linked with biodiversity, as seems to be the case in many (though not all) habitat types, then this unique method of viewing the urban landscape becomes a powerful tool for informing wildlife ecologists, nature conservationists, urban planners, environmental managers and landscape architects. (Springer Verlag)

OBJECTIVES:
The impact of anthropogenic environmental changes may impose strong pressures on the behavioral flexibility of free-ranging animals. Here, we examine whether rates of interactions with humans had both a direct and indirect influence on the duration and distribution of social grooming in commensal rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta).
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
Data were collected in two locations in the city of Shimla in northern India: an urban setting and a temple area. We divided these two locations in a series of similar-sized physical blocks (N = 48) with varying rates of human-macaque interactions. We conducted focal observations on three free-ranging rhesus macaque groups, one in the urban area and two in the temple area.
RESULTS:
Our analysis shows that macaques engaged in shorter grooming bouts and were more vigilant while grooming in focal sessions during which they interacted with people more frequently, suggesting that humans directly affected grooming effort and vigilance behavior. Furthermore, we found that in blocks characterized by higher rates of human-macaque interactions grooming bouts were shorter, more frequently interrupted by vigilance behavior, and were less frequently reciprocated.
DISCUSSION:
Our work shows that the rates of human-macaque interaction had both a direct and indirect impact on grooming behavior and that macaques flexibly modified their grooming interactions in relation to the rates of human-macaque interaction to which they were exposed. Because grooming has important social and hygienic functions in nonhuman primates, our work suggests that human presence can have important implications for animal health, social relationships and, ultimately, fitness. Our results point to the need of areas away from people even for highly adaptable species where they can engage in social interactions without human disruption.

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